Today, we are in Willemstad, Curacao. Again, this was not a scheduled stop for this cruise but was added when other ports were canceled. Since we've been here multiple times before, we walked into town and did a little shopping.
Willemstad is a quaint-looking place with colorful buildings and a decidedly Dutch feel.
We ventured over the pontoon bridge you can see just above my head in the photo above. If you haven't ever seen it in operation, it's worth seeing. One end of the floating bridge is attached to a pivot. The other end has a pilothouse. When ships need to get through the channel, they unhook the end by the pilothouse, a pilot gets in, fires up the motor, and drives that end of the bridge. The other end pivots and the bridge swings out of the way. Once the ship has passed, they reverse the process, driving the one end of the bridge back across the channel. Simple.
There was another Norwegian Cruise Line ship - the Joy - in port with us today. Once again, it was a ghost ship with only a skeleton crew aboard.
As we walked through town most of our ship's visitors wore masks while other tourists visiting Curacao on their own did not. Like in Aruba, vaccinated passengers were allowed to do their own thing. All others had to be on a Celebrity curated excursion if they wanted to leave the ship.
Here as well as in Aruba, you'll see a lot of clothing for sale with the word "Dushi". It is a local Papiamentu expression that mostly means sweet, nice, or good.
We returned to the ship for lunch. After lunch, Arlona and our friend, Donna, ventured back into town to pick up a ring Arlona bought but needed to be sized.
The rest of the day was spent relaxing with trivia, drinks and dinner. Our next two days will be at sea before returning to Ft. Lauderdale. We will get off the ship just long enough to clear customs and then get back on for the second part of this extended voyage.
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